THIS WEEK’S GOLD COAST AND TWEED ESTUARY FISHING REPORT
To book your private charter guaranteed to catch fish SMS 0432 990 302.
TWEED RIVER by Smithy
Well everyone it is great to be receiving some much needed rain.
The rain will get the creeks and drains running, washing food and nutrients into the rivers which will all go towards the success of a better winter fishing season.
It is still the flathead show at present with good numbers of fish still holding in the shallower middle reaches of the river.
Some nice quality bream are starting to show in the deeper holes and will continue to increase in both size and numbers throughout July.
GOLD COAST by Clinto
My first day back from a holiday in Greece and Dubai was a memorable one.
Jan was on a birthday charter with husband Bob and son Wayne, and scored some school size flathead in Nerang river on Ecogear ZX40 blades coated in Sax scent goldprawn.
Conditions we calm early on so we ventured to the broadwater first and fished around the Seaworld area, catching some winter whiting, flounder, flathead, cuttlefish.
After an hour the Southerly wind picked up which forced us upstream for shelter. The angles were good for drifting with the run in tide, and the flathead came on the bite in a narrow canal.
Not a 3 metre flattie but Jan skilfully landed a monster 87cm croc after a 10 minute fight, showing great patience to net the big girl on 2.7kg braid and 8lb fluorocarbon leader. Shimano 1-4kg Raider rod and Stradic 1000 reel handled the battle beautifully.
The fish first came up when hooked and had a look at the boat, giving us a glimpse of its massive head and girth, then produced a couple of big runs in the shallow water.
keep on breeding
She was finally netted and released in good health after some quick happy snaps.
Once again my number one lure the Ecogear ZX40 colour 440 proved the stand out.
A happy day and they took home a feed of flathead and flounder.
On Tuesday Ken and his family from Singapore booked a charter. Once again rain and wind were a menace but we found good shelter in the back canals off the main river.
Some nice sand whiting were feeding aggressively as well as school flathead and bream.
The weather looks to be improving later in the week just in time for school holidays, some good falls of rain were timely for a fantastic winter fishing season.
I’ll be looking to fish the broadwater when the wind drops, with the squid season running hot, and a huge variety of fish out there.
When the tides get bigger we’ll be stalking the middle reaches, then the next neap phase is a good opportunity to hunt Jewfish.
The big flathead will be upstream feeding themselves up for breeding season.
Find any clear water and shallow weedbeds, and the squid will likely be there ready to grab squid jigs. In the deeper water they are suckers for Ecogear ZX40 lures. Wavebreak and Crab islands are great places to start.
Remember over winter to have a rod set up with a squid jig, and a tailor rod rigged with a metal slug or soft plastic.
Some other useful lures for general fishing in the broadwater are Berkley Gulps, and blades for drifting.
For shallow trolling in 1-2m depth try Pontoon 21 crackjack 48mm SP DR, and small Atomic hardbodies.
For 2-4m depth use
Lively Lures Micro mullets, Atomic double deeps, and Savage gear 3D shrimp xdr 5cm.
Over winter when the water is fairly clear use natural and translucent colours. If the water is rain affected and/or cloudy days and early mornings try UV colours or dark/ shiny colours.
In winter when the waters colder flathead take longer to wake up, later starts are best.
Drop in to Sporty’s warehouse at Bundall and the boys will hook you up with expert advice, and some great lures that catch a lot of fish.
I still have three Ecogear packs available, to buy yours or to book a charter with Brad or me SMS 0432 990 302 or tap here m.me/bradsmithfishingcharters
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Cheers and happy fishing,
Smithy and Clinto
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